Located to the northeast of New Zealand, the Cook Islands consists of 15 small islands. The first recorded sighting occurred in 1595 by Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira, but it was not until 1606 when Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, a Portuguese explorer working for Spain, made landfall on the island of Rakahanga.
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Gardenia taitensis - The tiaré flower is a plant of the gardenia genera, one of hundreds of genera within the Rubiaceae family. It originated in Melanesia and Western Polynesia and is referred to as tiare Māori or tialé Māoli by the inhabitants of the Cook Islands. Having a sweet fragrance, the flower is often worn as a necklace similar in style as the Hawaiian lei or the Tahitian hei; sometimes it is worn in the hair. The creamy white petals are arranged in a pin-wheel design with 5 to 9 lobes. It is an evergreen shrub and grows to heights ranging from 2 to 4 meters.
